Third Time's the Charm
by Stunning Sunset
Summary: This time, she would make sure things went well. She had sacrificed too much to just give up. With Naruto at her side, she could do anything...But once more, she attracted the attention of a man, and he just wouldn't leave her alone...And then time unravels around her...Sequel to The Blind and the Unseeing
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

Hello, guys! I'm glad to announce this is the prologue of my new story and sequel to The Blind and the Unseeing! When I first started The Blind and the Unseeing, I wanted to try writing Sakura as the heroine (seeing as Kishimoto-sensei said he didn't know how to do write heroines, I felt it was only fair to give her a chance) and write a romance. Of course, being me, I couldn't help but add action in there, so what i tended to be max 20 chapters long turned into an epic story...

This time is about how to change things and accepting differences. Many characters will come back in this sequel, but some of them will be different from what they were (life experience and all that) so it will also be about dealing with that.

Well, I hope you enjoy and stay with me on this!

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Sakura looked straight at Kakashi, seeing through her sensory jutsu the minute twitch of his jaw, and nodded decisively at him. Ir was time, and she was ready.

Her arms gripped Naruto tighter, clutching him close to her bosom. What if it failed? Gaara's sand would protect them from the brunt of the impact, but...There were so many unknowns in the equation, anything could go wrong.

Doubts assailed her.

Recreating the circumstances of her time jump was no easy feat; She had thought upon it distractedly for years, but putting the plan in motion made her realize she might never know whether it worked or not. If they were sent into oblivion...But no. Jiraiya's seals added a new component. Set to react to the outburst of chakra, they were to send her and Naruto to a specific time and space, using the jutsu as a lifeline. This would work. It had to.

Naruto whimpered softly at the loss of chakra and became limp in her arms as his chakra drained away.

And then the jutsu slammed into them. Her medical jutsu reacted instantly, wrapping around Naruto and her, but stopped by Gaara's sand from taking full effect on them—encased in that sand, she was free from the danger of using that jutsu twice on herself.

As expected, the two jutsu clashed together; there was a bright light, an explosion, and then they were propelled in the air, Sakura's arms tightening around Naruto protectively as she curled around him. 

-:- 

The ground rushed at her suddenly. Sakura braced herself for the impact, bending her knees to absorb most of it, and clenched her arms around Naruto. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she rolled to the side to deflect the strength of the impact, and lay panting, kneecaps stinging.

In her arms, Naruto groaned quietly. She shushed him gently.

"We're there, Naruto-kun. Be very quiet, this is not a peaceful time..."

She observed their surroundings, gently putting Naruto down. She stretched her senses to their limits, frowning.

"What's wrong, nee-chan?" murmured Naruto, looking into her face.

"We're not where we're supposed to be. I guess it was too much to ask for...At least we're in the right forest. However, if the geographical coordinates were approximate, chances are we're not at the right moment either..."

She clenched her teeth, getting up and giving a hand to Naruto to hoist him up. "Alright. We're really close. First, however, you must always listen to my orders and never contradict me. Our lives may depend on it. These are not peaceful times, remember, and two strangers will certainly be looked upon with distrust."

Naruto shrugged. "Sure, nee-chan. It won't make much of a difference to me."

Behind his careless words lay a world of hurt. She hugged him closer, burying her face in his blond hair. "You're a good kid, Naruto-kun. Even if we're stranded here, I'll always be your family. Remember that, alright?"

He nodded into her chest, for once not saying anything. This would make the next part harder...

"Before we go, promise me to use my seal to teleport safely to my cave if you're ever in a situation where your life is in mortal danger. Even if I am in trouble, you must not hesitate."

He looked up at her with a frown. "I couldn't ever leave you behind!" he admonished her. "You're my only family and my first friend ever! I'll never abandon you!"

Brave Naruto. Sweet Naruto, who put himself in danger over and over again for the sake of his friends. Foolish Naruto, who didn't see that it would cost him his life.

"If worse comes to worse, I'll follow you. Besides, remember this: This mission could be done successfully without me, but not without you. Your well-being is of the utmost importance."

Naruto still looked unsatisfied, but he nodded reluctantly, gnashing his teeth.

"Let's go." 

-:- 

Her eyes were red with tears, but her jaw was clenched shut, determination shining in her eyes. She would not fail. Not this time. This was too important.

She wanted to sob, really she did, but couldn't afford to. Later. Later, when she was home safe and sound, she would cloister herself in her room and cry for hours on end.

Her chakra wrapped around the damaged nerves of her teammate, slowly fusing them back together. This was eating up a lot of her chakra, and her attention span was waning, but this was not the time to let such matters concern her. She had to stay strong.

The glow faded from her fingers, and she lightly tapped her teammate's shoulder.

"You can open your eyes now. How do you feel?"

The young male did so, and she felt her throat clench, emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

"Kakashi-kun..."

In his face, the eye of their other teammate looked straight at her from its injured orbit.

"I can see just fine. Wait..."

He jumped to his feet, standing protectively before her as two figures walked out of the trees. One of them was about their age, but the other, potentially more dangerous, was an adult.

They were already tired and injured, but maybe they could win the fight on if they took on the adult together.

"Rin..."

The two newcomers slowly walked in their direction, and they could see that the smaller one looked a heck of a lot like their sensei. In miniature.

The boy looked up at the adult. "Hey, isn't that..."

It was enough to make them stop short for a moment, but then Kakashi regained his senses and rushed at them, intent on taking the child out swiftly.

He was so fast that Rin didn't see him move, but suddenly, the adult—was she blind or something, with that blindfold over her eyes?—moved, and her shakujou intercepted perfectly Kakashi's weapon, inches from the boy's chest.

"So impulsive..." sighed the woman. "You shouldn't be fighting at all in your condition."

She didn't make any threatening move as Kakashi jumped backward, analyzing her. Was she that confident in her skills?

She reached into her pocket and threw something at him.

"Catch!"

Surprised, he did just that—Stupid!—and then looked in horror at what was in his hand, half expecting to see an exploding tag. But then—"A chakra pill?"

"Take that, young man. You're going to need it to protect your teammate. There are enemies coming."

Rin took a step forward uncertainly. "Kakashi-kun, she's right...I can feel many people coming. Too many to fight. We must move out."

Still tense, Kakashi nodded tersely, slowly inching backward, until he felt he was far enough from this mysterious duo, and then he ran off, Rin close on his heels.

"Nee-chan...Were we too late?"

"Iie, Naruto-kun. Not completely. Not completely..."

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And so begins another chapter of Sakura's adventures.


	2. At the Border of Evil

Hello, everybody! First, do know that I don't own the Naruto franchise. Second, welcome to this second chapter of Third Time's the Charm! I hope you will enjoy it.

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Sakura watched Kakashi and Rin go with a heavy heart. She so wanted to go with them, to tell them who she was, to clutch them to her chest...

But no. She had other things to do. If only they'd arrived sooner...

"No use to dwell on the past," she muttered, shaking her head ruefully when Naruto looked up curiously at her. "Let's go before more people come."

She told him under her breath to erase the seal they had used to get in this time and examined the collapsed cave before them. She'd probably be able to lift the boulders using her chakra-enhanced strength, but she didn't have all that much chakra to spare, still recovering from her injuries.

"Quickly, Naruto-kun. We don't have much time."

Reaching the destroyed cave, she popped a chakra pill into her mouth and quickly created chakra scalpels, calculating where it would be the safest to cut through the stone. She hopped a little to the right, rapped her knuckles on the rock, repeated the pattern a few times, concentrated...

"There. Step back."

With a few swipes, she carved a hole in the rock and heaved the roughly circular stone plug out of the way. "In, quickly!"

The flabbergasted blond did as he was told, for once speechless, and she quickly followed him, letting the stone fall back into place behind them. She then breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the stone wall of the tunnel they found themselves in.

"Nee-chan, where are we?" asked Naruto, looking left and right.

"At the edge of Hell..."

She ignored his cry of surprise and walked off with a few mutters to herself, palm to the wall as she followed the faint trace of chakra she could feel close at hand.

She turned a corner, and then...

There he was.

The bane of her existence, the person who would grow into a man who had taken her future away from her. The man who had forced her to forsake her husbands, her family, her friends...

"Uchiha Obito..."

She wanted to rip him apart, to tear his heart from his chest, to burn his body until it was naught but ashes...

"Wah! Nee-chan! Quick, we've gotta help him!"

Brave Naruto, who reminded her of his humanity.

She took a deep breath to control her killing intent, reminding herself that she had taken Naruto with her exactly for this reason. Without him, she would have slaughtered the young boy who looked at her through a single glassy eye, pain evident in his features.

Already, Naruto was lifting rocks off Obito's mangled body—she instructed him to be careful as small rocks rolled down and helped him lift the bigger ones.

"When I lift this last one, drag him out quickly," she instructed him when a single enormous boulder remained atop the young ninja.

"Hai, nee-chan!"

She crouched, grabbed the boulder with both hands, and waited until Naruto nodded at her before lifting it carefully.

"Careful, Naruto-kun," she hissed, adjusting her grip on the boulder as the blond dragged Obito away by the shoulders. As soon as he was reasonably far away, she let the boulder fall back down, and then she crouched next to the Uchiha's side as Naruto looked on worriedly.

Obito's glazed eye became half-lidded, and then closed completely as she ran her chakra through his mangled body, painstakingly reconstructing what had been broken and torn.

There was sweat on her brow, but it did not matter. They had to stabilize the young teenager before they could hope to move him, and she hoped against all odds they managed to do so before the most evil fucker she knew happened upon them.

She was almost there. A few moments more, and then she could safely carry Obito away and work on his body in safety, with all the time in the world to do so.

She could feel the chakra signatures of numerous shinobi nearby, but fortunately, none of them seemed intent on digging out Obito, content with destroying the whole area. They had to relocate a bit farther down the tunnel, and then she felt something dark crawl up their way.

"Oh, hell."

"Well, well, well. What have we here?"

The voice was ominous, and Sakura reacted instantly, stepping in front of Naruto protectively, shakujou drawn horizontally in front of her while she pushed the blond back with her left hand. Naruto was more curious than anything, and that in itself was just as dangerous.

She felt terrified, absolutely terrified and wanted nothing more than to faint, hoping that this was just a bad nightmare, and oh, did she mention she wanted to faint?

This was unreal.

She wanted to shake, almost did, but she had to be strong. For Naruto. For herself. For...Obito.

"Nee-chan?" piped up Naruto quietly from behind her back, clutching the back of her sleeveless coat in a bid for protection. He was young and naive, but he, too, felt the power of the man standing before them.

"An unusual duo...Very interesting...Unfortunately, you'll have to die now."

"The hell we are!" growled Sakura, feeling ire replace her terror—Inner encouraged her heartily from the confines of her mind, pumping her fist in the hair and hollering.

"Yeah, like nee-chan said! You old ruin! Nee-chan and I will kick your ass!"

"Stand back, Naruto," she ordered tensely, "this man is a formidable opponent, despite how weakened he is at present."

She heard Obito moan in pain, and was suddenly reminded that without medical care, he would surely perish soon.

The other man seemed to think the same thing, too, but it did not make her get out of her combat stance.

"That boy needs help. Medical help. I'm a pretty good medic, despite my lack of eyesight. Let me heal him. We can kill each other later."

The old man nodded at length, eyes shining with something Naruto was unable to identify but which made him feel unsettled and fearful for all of them.

"Very well. May I know the name of the woman I will kill later?" he asked with deceiving politeness.

"Sakura. Just Sakura."

"Well then, 'Just Sakura', I am Madara. Just Madara."

She let him pass by her and take Obito into his arms, knowing he wouldn't injure the boy, and tersely followed him down the tunnel as Naruto whispered loudly, "Was he joking about you two killing each other?"

She didn't respond. 

-:- 

Within moments, Sakura and Naruto were led to a large cave at the center of which stood what looked like an immense tree. Naruto gaped openly, looking around with bright, curious eyes, and even Sakura was hard pressed not to falter at the grandeur of the place, despite how sparsely furnished it was. She followed Madara quietly, feeling more and more unsettled—surely, if Madara didn't mind them seeing this, it could not be a good thing.

She wondered if they would be assassinated during the dead of night.

"Don't stray too much, Naruto-kun," she called out.

In an uncaring tone, Madara called out over his shoulder, "I will not have him killed before our fight, so concentrate on this."

She gritted her teeth, quite uncertain as to whether or not she should trust him. Would he honor his word? He was not completely devoid of honor, but this was a man who had forsaken his home and family...and would destroy them one day.

Tensely, she followed the elderly man to a plain bed and got on the opposite side as he carefully deposited Obito on it. She carefully observed both him and Naruto—she would not trust his word so easily—and waited for his nod of approval before putting a hand on the mangled body before her. It grated on her nerves to have to ask for permission, but she didn't want to risk him breaking her hand if she touched Obito without his say-so.

Checking her chakra, she noted that she still had a great part of it left, thanks to the chakra pill she had ingested previously, and ran her chakra through Obito's system.

A hand clasped her wrist tightly; she winced slightly in pain.

"Don't try anything funny," said Madara darkly.

"I'm a medic. Doing so would be outside my work ethic," replied Sakura through clenched teeth, choosing not to think of how close she had come to killing Obito in the first place.

She tensed when Madara's hands came to rest on Obito's chest, so close to hers she could feel the heat he was emanating. Unsettled, she shifted slightly, choosing not to think of her proximity to the evil man.

Just concentrate on this...nothing more, nothing less...

His knowledge of medical techniques was not lost on her, and she wondered where he had learned how to heal people so proficiently. He had been born in a time of war and had lived for many long years...Still, that could not explain everything. Copying techniques with the Sharingan did not mean one could apply them instantly. Knowledge of the human body was required too, as well as countless hours of practice, this she knew very well.

She was fascinated.

She vaguely heard Naruto run around the cave, but only paid him attention when he stepped up to them and stood at the end of the bed, gazing curiously at them as they worked.

"Will he be alright?" he asked, frowning at the sight of the blood covering the blankets. Obito's nude body was hidden under a thick coat of it, too, but what he could see was mangled and broken.

Sakura nodded sharply, sweat pearling on her brow from the exertion as she repaired a few shattered ribs, tried to stop the fragments from damaging the lungs overly so with each of Obito's breaths, and kept his ribcage from collapsing.

"Naruto-kun, get my bag. Give me a chakra pill, a roll of bandages and the unguent in the square bottle," she ordered as she washed Obito's torso with fresh water and gently wiped it free of blood, grime and dirt.

He rummaged in it for a few moments, coming up with the requested items that he handed to her after a cursory examination on Madara's part.

She quickly ingested the chakra pill, then put the unguent aside while she regrew Obito's skin and muscles.

Observing her exerting herself, Madara chuckled darkly, belittling her efforts and grating on her nerves just that much more.

"You're wasting your chakra. You should just make sure he lives, that'll be enough. His arm has to be amputated anyway; don't spend too much time on a futile goal."

She gritted her teeth, avoiding looking at him; she wasn't sure she'd be able to refrain from punching him if she concentrated on his mocking face.

"Well excuse me for caring about my patient's well-being. You might not be able to save his arm but I will," she replied hotly.

"It will never be as strong as it was anyway. He'd be better off with a prosthetic arm."

This time she openly growled and stood up, slapping him so fast he didn't have time to counter, though maybe that was partly due to his surprise at her bold and suicidal move.

"Listen well, you old crow! Not everything can be replaced by a cheap imitation! The original thing is always the best!"

She would have ranted much more, but a hand clenched around her throat, cutting off her air supply, and she found herself choking as Madara reminded her of why he was such a monstrous man and the fear that her anger had swept aside made a victorious comeback.

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I hope this satisfies you!

Gah, Madara is so hard and infuriating to write! I just want to punch him…Was he too OOC?


	3. Getting Boundaries Straight

Hello again! Sorry to have kept you waiting! This took longer than I expected to write, especially since I've been quite sick recently, but I'm now fairly satisfied with it, so here!

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Sakura choked as Madara's bruising grip tightened, fingers digging into the pale flesh of her throat. His killing intent washed over her, and she felt paralyzed, absolutely petrified with fear at his fierceness.

"Do not test me," growled Madara, tightening furthermore the vice grip he had on her neck. "I have no problem with killing you if you prove too troublesome."

She growled, wishing herself not to give in to fear.

"Fine. Think what you will," she spat when he let up enough for her to speak. "You're so...emotionally stunted you're barely more than a child who thinks in black and white."

She cursed herself for speaking up as soon as the grip on her throat tightened dramatically. Through a buzz in her ears, she heard Naruto cry out in anger, and then Madara leaned in real close, breath brushing her cheek as he murmured in her ear, "Should I kill you now or later? I don't mind spraying your innocent kid with your blood as a baptism to this world."

She swallowed the venomous words she wanted to spew at him—Think of Naruto! Think of him!—and bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to taste blood. She tsked and threw her pride to the curb.

"Please let go of me and let me finish healing this boy."

"Then don't run your pretty mouth off anymore," snorted Madara, easing his grip. "Well, unless you want me to rip off your tongue."

She wrenched herself away, wishing she could simply cut his hand off; her throat burned as she coughed a few times.

In a rough voice, she croaked to Naruto that she was alright, trying to allay his worries. He didn't look convinced, but thankfully didn't argue except for glaring mightily at Madara. She eased her grip on his wrist, feeling slightly remorseful for the red handprint she left on his skin. 

-:- 

Obito opened his eyes, blinking a few times to let the world get back into focus, feeling very much like he had been trampled by a horde of giants. He clenched his teeth, breath hissing out of him as pain seized him brutally. He kind of wished he had stayed unconscious.

_That hurts!_

"Hey, don't move! You're going to rip open your stitches and undo all of nee-chan's hard work!"

The reprimand from that youthful voice only served to make him whip his head to the side, pain lancing through him once more.

_That hurts, that hurts, that hurts!_

A feminine hand landed on his chest and pushed him back down; instantly, a wave of chakra eased his tender body, and his eye moved from two curious blue ones to the intriguing blackness of a single blindfold.

"I...Have I seen you before?" he asked, intrigued. She was somehow familiar.

The woman—she looked quite pretty, but it was hard to say for sure with her blindfold that obscured part of her face—smiled tensely.

"I got you out from under that boulder," she said rather tiredly. "Don't move. I spent a long time repairing your body, so it will be sore for a while yet, but if you move, it will be much worse. Please, _please_ stop moving," she said as he tried, once again, to get up.

"But...my teammates! I have to help them! They've been hurt! I've got to—"

"You've got to do nothing! I've met them, they're fine, and they'll be fine until you're back on your feet!" she said shortly, pushing him back down with a surprisingly unyielding finger in a bid to stop his tirade before he got really pumped up.

She looked straight out stressed and completely tired, and he felt some pity for her. She looked clearly drained and unhappy. Obito felt mollified, somehow sorry for being the obvious cause of her stress and tiredness, and nodded slowly.

It didn't stop him from examining his surroundings curiously, already thinking of an escape plan to join his teammates as soon as possible.

She looked like she knew exactly what he was thinking, if her downturned mouth was any indication. Curious, she looked so much like the nurses back in Konoha whenever he tried to sneak out using his almighty ninja skills. Her fingers drummed on his bedside restlessly as two white humanoid figures appeared at the foot of his bed. She tensed, frowning when the two began to talk enthusiastically to him, and retreated quietly into the background.

The blond boy who had been talking to him at first followed her with a backward glance and a wave.

He was more interested in the strange old man who approached him then. 

-:- 

There was little more she wanted to do at the moment than sleep, but she had spent the night tending Obito and lending Naruto her chest to sleep on, always alert for any attempt on their lives, one arm around him as he leaned against her chest and the other staying surreptitiously at her side, ready to punch anyone who came close or reach for a weapon.

Naruto had complained about not getting to sleep on a bed, but she had pointed out to him that she didn't have anything quite so soft to lean on, settling against the wall, and he had shut his mouth. But _damn_, he still snored as much as he did back in her original time.

It seemed sleeping while sitting had not agreed too much with him, but the novelty of Obito waking up had been enough of a distraction to quell his bad mood.

She needed to splash some cool water onto her face to bring back her concentration to a more tolerable level or she was going to lose it—and possibly get her head ripped off in the process.

There was a stream running to the side of the cavern, and it was there she headed, rubbing her temples tiredly as Naruto chatted next to her, excited about having another boy to talk to. She knew they would soon be up to no good. Two pranksters…May the gods help her and grant her patience.

She kneeled next to the stream, wincing at the pull in her stitches, and put some water on her face and the back of her neck, occasionally nodding at one of Naruto's peppy comments.

So consumed in her thoughts, she nearly started when Naruto softly put her bag next to her and scooted closer, pulling the bag with him.

"Nee-chan...Don't you, too, need some medical help?" he asked uncharacteristically gently and perceptively. "I know you're hurt. I can smell it, and I can see it."

She didn't answer, but didn't find it in herself to slap his hands away when he slowly started to undo her top. "Naruto-kun, this is not appropriate..." she muttered half-heartedly.

"Will you please just let me take care of you?" he retorted, giving her a slight push so she would shrug out of her dark red coat and then her long-sleeved shirt.

He tsked at the sight of her bloody bandages—"It hasn't seeped through that much!"—and started to unwind them with disapproving clucks of his tongue that reminded her just a bit too much of Tsunade.

A wave of homesickness washed over her.

"We _really_ need to change these bandages."

"Obito-kun needs the spare ones," she replied. "I'll simply wash the wound and put no stress on it, and as soon as my chakra replenishes itself enough that I can spare some to heal myself, I'll do it. I swear."

Naruto glared at her, poking her in the side. She hissed, pulling his finger away from her as the crane on her flank crooned in disapproval. "Don't _do_ that! See, even the crane disapproves of you roughhousing me!"

"I think it rather disapproves of your careless attitude regarding your injury."

"Shut up, Naruto."

She unraveled the bandages herself, spending a moment or two to examine the edges of her wound, prodding gingerly at the tender flesh.

"This was close..." she whispered.

"Wow, nee-chan, I didn't know it was that bad!" exclaimed Naruto.

Her head whipped around reflexively, mind coming to a halt as she spotted the mixed look of fascination, lust and horror on his face. Blood dribbled down his nose at a steady pace.

_Shit!_

She quickly pushed his head back, pinching his nose, and covered her chest with her bunched shirt as she urged him to stay still.

He stared, crossed-eyed, at the beads dangling inches from his nose.

"Hey, what are those? Prayer beads?" he asked curiously.

"That's...Just about everything I have left from my marriage. I promised I'd never take them off."

"D'you...miss 'em?" asked Naruto as she released his nose. He scrunched it a bit, wiping it on the back of his hand, and looked happy when it didn't bleed anymore. The Fox's regenerative abilities were nothing to scoff at.

"Every minute," she replied in a subdued tone. "This is the second time I have to leave my loved ones, but this time it's so much worse because I actually had a hand in it."

She quickly put her shirt back on; this was not the time to reminisce and possibly head down a slippery road leading straight to a complete nervous breakdown. Her hands fumbled with it, stress adding to her unsure movements.

"Your patient needs you."

The cold voice sent a chill down her spine. Had he seen her? Had he seen the wound on her back, sign she would be easier to overpower? Had he heard her?

She slowly turned around, putting her coat back on silently. Her shirt was gaping still, but she paid it no mind; it was too late anyway.

"What, have you finished poisoning his mind already?" she asked venomously, unable or perhaps unwilling to watch her mouth. Inner urged her on from the confines of her mind, pelting out insults like a sailor.

In an instant, he reached out and grabbed her tongue, nails digging into it warningly and rather painfully. He put a bony hand on the back of her head to stop her from wrenching away and, much too close for comfort, hissed menacingly, "What have I said about your mouth? Do you truly want me to kill you now?"

She growled low in her throat.

"Should I rip out your tongue now for your cheek?"

This time, she had had enough. She was tired, stressed, sad, and she simply didn't want to deal with a man like him.

Screw patience and careful plans!

She grabbed his wrist, gripping it tight enough that his fingers unclenched unwillingly, and murmured just as menacingly, "Okay, here's how we're gonna do this. I'm gonna let you go, and I'm gonna walk over there and heal that boy. And you're going to leave us alone," she said, gesturing to her and Naruto, "because if you don't, I'm going to seriously make a mess out of you. Don't you dare take this lightly, old crow. I can make your life miserable. I _will_, if you try to kill me or injure me or my boys."

After a moment of silence, Madara nodded slowly, grudgingly but seemingly with some respect for her showing some backbone.

"Just do your thing," he said with deceiving calmness. Beware still waters…

"Thank you," she replied bitingly, brushing past him with long strides.

"We'll talk about this later!" he said to her back.

"Oh, I do count on it," she spat back, too irate to really take into consideration what that entailed.

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Whew! How do you like this? They've just barely brushed at a mass of eventual problems, right? Oh, tension!


	4. Prodding at Wounds

Hello again! In this, Obito proves he's not yet a criminal at heart, and Madara proves he very much is one. Check it out and tell me what you think!

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Obito smiled slightly as the female walked up to him, unfortunately closing her top in the process before he had a chance to see anything clearly. She looked harried, but her countenance softened when she put a hand on his forehead to check his temperature.

"So, what did I do to deserve having a pretty personal nurse?" he joked lightly.

Her face tensed minutely and for so short a while he thought he had imagined it. He had no way of knowing her thoughts ran to the length of "Just destroying everything I ever cared for."

She sighed. "Just...Don't talk for a bit while I check on your vitals, alright?"

She lightly ran her hands down his chest, occasionally pressing on a spot to see how he'd react. She asked him what degree of pain he felt every time she prodded him, noting his answers silently.

"Here?"

"Kinda like a dog took a chunk out of my side and scrabbled at my ribs with its claws."

"Interesting," she replied with a soft snort, "but I'd really like it if you kept your answers on a 1 to 10 scale."

"Okay then, how about a gazillion? _Ouch!_" he complained as she prodded harder than before in retaliation for his cheek.

She thankfully left his body alone and ran a soothing wave of chakra down his torso that eased his breathing and cleared his lungs.

He thanked her heartily, reaching out to grab her hand. She suddenly looked skittish, ready to flee, but he held on to her, hoping to calm her. Was she scared of him or afraid to get hurt?

"I'm...Thanks. I...Are you afraid to get infected by me or..."

She reacted exactly like a kunoichi he had seen before in one of his failed attempts at escaping the hospital, a woman who had been raped and beaten during a mission.

She shook her head.

"That's not it. I'm just...tense," she said lamely, swinging their clenched hands lightly. She felt drained of energy, of happiness, of life...

She rested her forehead on the sided of his bed, breathing deeply.

Obito gently, slowly untangled their fingers and caressed her head. She trembled under his touch like a newborn fawn, and he had the feeling she was sobbing silently into the mattress, fists clenched on either side of her. He didn't speak, and she didn't either, eventually falling into a restless slumber.

He wondered what her circumstances were.

"Hey, is nee-chan finally asleep?"

Oh, the other boy.

"Pretty much," he answered quietly. "Who are you both?"

The blonde sat on the other side of his bed, shrugging. "Well, my name's Naruto. I don't have parents, but Sakura-nee-chan took me in as part of her family. She's kinda sad and tense right now, but she's a really nice person. You know...She got married yesterday, but there was this super evil guy coming, and she took me and ran. I think...everyone else is dead. This kinda sucks, you know? Instead of a honeymoon and stuff, she got saddled with me. Me, well, I didn't have many friends to begin with, and I'm sad too, gut at least I've got her to lean on, right? But nee-chan...She wouldn't lean on me. I can only...be there for her. You know?"

"Yeah...I can't help my teammates much either. I'm kinda the one who slows everyone down," said Obito with a cheerless chuckle, "but I'm always there when they need me. They don't say anything, but I know they appreciate having someone always there. Just being there is already a lot. I know, 'cause my teammate, Rin, she loves this cold dickhead, and he often makes her sad, so I make her laugh and she calls me silly and stuff, but for that moment, at least she's not sad anymore."

Naruto shrugged. "I guess. It's just...She's the first person who's ever been so nice to me, and I'd like to help her more."

Obito looked back at Sakura for a moment. "Yeah, she seems real nice. Troubled, but I guess that's understandable...It's kinda shitty for the two of you. When I'm better, maybe you can accompany me home. I'm sure you'd like it there. It's all green, and the people are nice. Maybe you could build a home there with her."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully. This sounded like a good idea, but Sakura had to make the decision, and he knew their mission was only just beginning. He didn't know much about it, but she'd tell him when the time was right.

"What is it like, being a ninja?" he asked instead, curious. He was supposed to be one now, but he didn't know how to feel about it. Things hadn't exactly happened the way he had thought they would.

"Well, it's pretty cool, you get to learn cool jutsu and help people," murmured Obito slowly, as if to himself, eye fixed on the remote ceiling. "But with the war going on and stuff, it's also kinda dark. I mean, take me for example. My sensei had to go on a separate mission, so my cold dickhead of a teammate, who made jounin, was our taichou this time, and things got complicated really fast, and before we knew it, our other teammate, Rin, was taken, and we had a disagreement about our mission...We ended up saving her, but I was caught under that boulder...I remember feeling terrified of dying, but also being happy I could be of use to my team...You know, I saved my stuck-up teammate, even though he always said I was useless. I proved I wasn't useless, that I had a place on that team. I fought hard for it. And now I have to make it back to them, because what we fight for is worthwhile and they need me to help them brighten their days. But yeah, all in all, I don't regret becoming a ninja."

Naruto nodded, eyes shining. "Amazing! I wish I could have a team, too!"

Obito shrugged slightly, careful not to jostle his injuries. "If you become a ninja in Konoha, you'll be put on one. Teammates are really nice. Your team kinda becomes a second family, you spend so much time with them. Closer, sometimes, even. Trust is really what it's about. You know, I gripe about my teammate who's cold, but I don't hate him or anything. In the end, he made the right choice. A bit late, but, y'know, not even he is perfect. I gave him my eye 'cause it was his birthday and I had forgotten to get him a gift. I hope he's using it to protect Rin-chan. I want them both to stay alive..."

Naruto sighed wistfully while Obito trailed off pensively. "I kinda wish I had that, too. But you know what? Sakura-nee-chan is my most important person, so unless she is well and happy, I won't leave her."

Obito looked at the dozing kunoichi. "Yeah...You mentioned she just lost her husband...Is that why she cut her hair? Out of grief?"

"Nah...She had really pretty hair before, pink and stuff, and her fiancé used to braid it for her, but she was taken—kidnapped, when she tried to save him—and when we got her back, she wasn't the same. She'd been poisoned, apparently. I don't know for sure, I was only told part of the story, but she wasn't all there in the head, so they had to ask a super good medic to operate. She's still got faint scars in her hairline, see?" he said, pointing. "She's fine now, though. I just wish her hair grew back. I know she was given a precious hairpin, a heirloom, from her husband. I think it'd help if she could at least wear it."

Obito agreed with a firm nod. "Of course. But it'll take a long time before her hair grows enough for that." He stayed silent for a while, then: "How about a wig?"

There was a beat, then both boys fell into fits of laughter. 

-:- 

Sakura didn't know what had transpired between Naruto and Obito, but it had brought the boys close, and the following days only amplified their closeness. Of course, two boys of similar ages and temperaments could only bond. What bothered her was that they had taken to whispering excitedly, conspiring she knew not what behind her back. She had entirely faith in Naruto, but she knew well his propensity for causing trouble.

Somehow, that had caused the two White Zetsu who had stayed at Obito's side to migrate to hers, and that decidedly made her uneasy. They seemed nice, certainly, but how much was genuine and how much was ordered by Madara? She didn't know if they were observing her, but her attempts at driving them off had amounted to nothing and so she was stuck with them, ignoring their presence when she could.

They were a bit like overgrown puppies, flopping down wherever they wanted and observing her with childlike curiosity. She endured, if only to keep them from Obito's side. She much preferred the boy to have Naruto as a companion than those strange humanoid puppets of Madara's. It was hard to hate them when they acted the way they did, happy-go-lucky and helpful, but she reminded herself at least twice a day that appearances were deceiving.

Madara, on the other hand, spent the better part of his days sleeping in his stone throne, looking deceptively open to attacks. She knew better than that.

She passed by the throne, ignoring it and its contents completely, carrying in her arms a stack of bloody bandages that she intended to wash in the stream.

She was stopped in her tracks by a voice coming from the seemingly dozing man.

"Stop right there."

Puzzled and on the defensive, Sakura still did so, ready for anything he could dish out.

"What do you want?" she asked calmly, without any intonation that would give away her trepidation.

"The brat was talking a while ago about you having just gotten married."

Her heart dropped into her stomach. Instantly, her behaviour turned defensive.

"I did. What of it?"

"I find it interesting that someone other than me wants to kill you, but more than that, I am interested in who someone like you married. From what I heard out of the very mouth of that boy, you are a saint who simply wants to heal people—any people. Therefore, whoever attacked you must have been threatened in some way by you or you did something that made them react out of revenge. Seeing as you are supposedly a pacifist, this is of the utmost interest. It makes me wonder who you could have gotten married to, for that person may have been the catalyst for the attack, and I very much would like to meet your attacker. We might have _a lot_ in common."

She was frozen in place, completely numb.

_No. Don't delve there. Don't._

"My marriage is off-limits, you inconsiderate _swine_. I am in mourning. Leave me well enough _alone_. And that person who attacked us? You will _never_ find him. _He is no more._"

"Interesting. So it is a single person, and a male. And I noticed that you chose your words quite well and avoided saying he is dead, which means either he is not dead or he is incapacitated enough that he will never be a threat again."

He closed his eyes, dismissing her must like that.

"Do go on. I will think this over; your washing awaits you."

She jerked; walking back to the stream, two white Zetsus dogging her steps, her mind worked desperately as she tried not to hyperventilate. Somehow, she had just attracted the curiosity of one Uchiha Madara. Her chances of survival had just dropped into the single digits.

Kneeling at the edge of the stream, she reached into her satchel and tossed her hairpin into the water with a heavy heart. It was carried by the current outside the cave, eventually sinking to the bottom.

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Laying the groundwork is fastidious, but mind-fucking is so very fun to write! I do love Madara.


	5. The Cat that Toyed with its Food

I really like this chapter. It wrote most of itself out, and turned out exactly the way I wanted it. Yay! It must be because of all your encouraging reviews!

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Trying not to expand too much chakra while dealing with an extremely injured patient was a task Sakura was fast failing at, but she knew well it was impossible from the beginning. Especially given that she had to heal herself too. She did try to restrain her use of her chakra, but it only delayed the inevitable.

Complete chakra exhaustion would result in a coma that would last long enough for her reserves to replenish themselves—and for Madara to kill her. She could not afford that in enemy territory.

Cleaning up after her latest healing session with Obito, Sakura pulled Naruto aside and kneeled in front of the perplexed boy.

"Naruto-kun, I need your help," she said softly. "I need to conserve my chakra, so I'll have to stop using my sensory jutsu for a while. I'll depend on you to be my eyes, okay?"

Naruto cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing as he studied her. Her complexion wasn't so good, pallid rather than pale, and her face was drawn, as though she was hiding a deep suffering. She had told him she was trying not to use too much chakra, but it seemed that hadn't worked.

He crossed his arms over his chest, worrying his lower lip with his teeth, and nodded slowly. "That's only temporary, right? I mean, you're going to be fine in just a while, _right?_"

"Sure thing. Just for a while."

Her smile was fake, but he chose to overlook that. Nowadays, all her smiles were fake.

She put a hand on his shoulder, and suddenly, her countenance changed perceptibly. She didn't look as sure of herself and she didn't stand as tall, gripping her shakujou tightly and using it as a walking stick. The rings atop the weapon clinked ominously in the too quiet cavern.

"Go slowly," she murmured, taking a precautionary step forward, less assured that she would have liked to seem.

She wasn't completely defenseless, having received some training from the bats—she remembered sourly that she hadn't finished it—but she was nowhere near as safe as she had been when using her jutsu.

Tension settled in her shoulders as Naruto led her to the stream, a White Zetsu following them with skipping steps. So innocently, yet not. A playful watchdog that could turn on her at any moment. She refrained from shivering.

Naruto helped her divest herself of her clothes, after which she ordered him to look away to preserve at least some of her modesty, and she summarily examined her wounds, fingers ghosting over the healing injuries. By the feel of them, she could guess how they would look, and she was relatively satisfied with her progress, but she was more worried about her mental state. She was not stupid. She knew she was heading straight for a depression. Feeling tired all the time, wanting to cry most of the time, having mood swings some of the time, and smiling less and less...

"Nee-chan...You're kinda pale," said Naruto, peering at her from the corner of his eyes, leaning heavily on her shakujou.

She put a hand on the crown of his head and firmly turned his head so that he faced forward instead of spying on her.

"I know. Lack of sun and all that..."

Naruto shook his head in the negative.

"That's not...I mean, yeah, I guess that's part of the reason, but...Nee-chan, you need a change of scenery. Couldn't we get out of this cave for a while?"

Sakura cleaned her skin with a wet cloth, rubbing circles onto it while pondering her answer. At length, she let out a defeated sigh.

"Naruto-kun...This cave is pretty much sealed off from the outside, and I doubt Madara has any intention of letting us get out so easily. We're pretty much prisoners here. Until my usefulness wears out, at least..."

A large hand landed on her shoulder as a voice breathed in her ear, "Glad you know your own situation..."

With a yell, she spun around, fist poised to strike; it was caught in an unforgiving grip.

_Madara!_

Feet still in the water, she swung her other fist—it was caught too, and both of her arms were pushed behind her back, forcing her torso forward.

Heaving, she ground her teeth, growling. She was so close to him his clothes were brushing against her naked skin and she could smell his body odor. It didn't appease her in the least. Not like it would have with Itachi or Kisame.

"Have I already overgrown my usefulness?" she taunted, hissing as the strain in her shoulders increased in response. "Twist my arms anymore and they'll pop out of their sockets. And now what use would I be?"

Silence stretched on. Even Naruto kept silent, but she guessed having a kunai pressed to the jugular did that to you. Zetsu would pay for that later.

"Don't push your luck, woman. Your usefulness only extends so far. And as you just said, your time is running out."

She knew that, but it stung nonetheless, so she did what most people did when they felt attacked. She lashed back.

"So is yours, old man."

For a long, tense moment, neither said anything, seizing up each other, then a slight tensing of the muscles in his forearms made her aware he was about to act at last. Her body reacted automatically, foot coming up in a roundhouse kick he avoided easily, releasing her in the process. She jumped back, landing in the middle of the stream, hand reaching to the weapons pouch strapped to her pants at mid-thigh.

"I wonder what would happen if I disconnected those creepy tubes of yours from your body," she taunted brazenly uncaring at the moment about her well-being. She needed to feel her blood pumping in her veins to feel alive and a fight was just the way to do it. She chose not to consider the nature of the opponent in front of her. This was no Naruto she could punch into the ground with a snarl.

"You suicidal?" he retorted, almost unbelieving.

"I don't know, you crazy?"

He snarled, fury radiating in him. In his weakened state, however it cost him, he could not afford to fight her so easily, but he could still teach her a lesson.

"Let us see if you can survive against a clone, you foolish woman. Maybe then I'll spare your life and forgive your impudence. Give me a good show."

"Nee-chan!"

"_Ha?_ How foolish of you...Aren't you afraid Obito-kun will hear?"

"It matters not at this point. If necessary, I will erase his memory."

She trudged forward in the water, snorting inelegantly.

"Figures. You were always the manipulative kind, weren't you?"

She bent backward to avoid getting a spiked ball in lieu of her head, thanking inwardly the bats for what training they had given her. The telltale swish had been all she had heard before the ball had sailed in an arc at face level. Now, she heard the clone yank the chain back, and remembered Madara was fond of such weapons.

Frowning, she took account of her options. Using chakra was pretty much a last resort, which put her at a disadvantage, but by no means was she done for this easily. Arming herself with a kunai, she brandished it horizontally in front of her, left palm poised vertically against the pommel. Her stance shifted slightly as she prepared herself for the clone's next move.

This time, the ball came with a straight thrust. She stopped it with the kunai, skidding a few feet back with the force of the blow. She clenched her teeth.

Another thrust of the ball. She deflected it, running at the clone while he yanked the chain back. Sensing the ball coming back, she used its momentum to her advantage, a hand pressed to it to give her added force, and yelled mightily as she swung at the clone. Her legs closed around the clone's neck; she flipped in the air, twirled once, and, softening her landing with her hands, slammed the clone's head into the ground. It poofed out of existence; lying on the ground was not an option: she got back to her feet with a grunt as Madara clapped slowly.

"It seems I went too easy on you. Again."

Another clone materialized in front of her, kicking her in the face and sending her flying straight into the wall. She crashed into it, a pained scream escaping her throat as she smashed her head into a boulder on the way down.

"Nee-chan! Let me go, teme!" cried Naruto, jerking against Zetsu's grip.

"Chikushou..." growled Sakura, getting unsteadily back to her feet, hand grasping for support on the boulder that had stopped her fall. The rock was wet under her palm. "Stay back, Naruto-kun!"

_Blood?  
_  
This explained the throbbing in the back of her head.

"But—!"

"It's an order!"

Her body moved on its own, narrowly avoiding the spiked ball as it crashed into the wall next to her, sending rubble flying everywhere. She used the resulting cloud of dirt to hide her presence, trying to orient herself with Naruto's breathing and the clangs of the metal chain connecting the spiked ball to its handle. She could more easily triangulate her location than she had previously thought, but was aware that Madara was a master at genjutsu. Maybe he had caught her in one when she was unaware and had warped her perception.

She quickly disrupted the flow of chakra in her body by slicing across her arm with her kunai—nothing changed. Hm. At least now she was sure that her senses weren't being duped.

She jumped at the clone, slicing at its exposed back with her kunai. Less than an inch from its neck, her kunai was deflected, flying through the air before burying itself in the ground next to Madara. She only had time to cross her arms defensively in front of her before she was forced back by a kick.

"Nee-chan! Look out for the ball!"

She ripped off her blindfold, holding it by both hands in front of her, getting into a fighting stance. She was ready.

That damnable ball came at her again. From the swooshing...Left!

She crouched, avoiding the ball, and extended her arm, using her blindfold like a whip to wrap around the chain. As the clone snapped its hand to get the ball back, she reached into her weapons pouch and grabbed an exploding tag, quickly attaching it to a kunai that she then threw at the clone.

It exploded in midair, far enough for her that she managed to shield herself from the blast with her arm, and took the clone out with it. The tremor ran into the chain, making it snap back like a snake. It wrapped around her arm other arm, wrenching it backward out of its socket with the weight of the ball, and threw her back in the air.

Landing lightly on her feet, she panted, jaw tensing as Madara approached her, running a finger lightly along her dislocated arm.

"Not bad...To be fair, my clone didn't use any jutsu and kept to a single weapon, but given your handicap...You faired pretty well overall. I might just wait for you to heal to get a decent fight out of you..."

He walked off with a small smirk, leaving her dumbfounded, tired, injured and completely ticked off.

He was out for her hide, one way or another, she just knew it.

He was like a cat playing with its food.

With a flat-palmed blow to her shoulder, he snapped it back in place, relishing in her pained yell.

This would be interesting. He could curb his homicidal tendencies long enough to watch her some more and learn her secrets. After all, he was a patient man.

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Liked it?

Chikushou: damn it, son of a bitch…Nice interjection to shout when you're pissed off!


	6. Rules to Recovery

I apologize for keeping you wanting. This took longer than I expected, given I have a new idea for a different story burning with blazing passion in my veins, but I did manage to finish this, yay! Less Madara but much more Obito this time. And soon things will get moving...

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Her whole body hurt when her legs gave out from under her and she crumpled to the ground, all her energy leaving her at once.

"Nee-chan!"

Her arms wrapped reflexively around Naruto as he clutched her so hard she wheezed in his grasp.

"Are you alright?" they both asked at the same time.

She couldn't help but to chuckle.

"Hai, I am. You?"

"Me too." There was a beat. "Ano...Your head is bleeding."

She cautiously brought her fingers to the back of her head. They found the wound with a hiss on her part. She was getting a headache.

"You're right. Hand me a roll of bandages, will you?"

After washing the back of her head with a wet cloth while Naruto draped her clothes around her shoulders, she unraveled some of the roll, hand poised at her temple when it was stopped by a gentle grip.

"Let me."

She stilled, astounded at the audacity of the interloper. Her stillness, however, allowed White Zetsu to gingerly pry the bandages from her hand and slowly start to wrap them around her head.

She was completely baffled.

"Why are you doing this after just threatening Naruto-kun and helping Madara make my life hell?" she asked, Naruto nodding emphatically next to her with a frown, arms crossed over his chest.

Zetsu stopped for a moment, considering his answer, then continued his work.

"I will never go against him, but I admit I do not always agree with him."

She gritted her teeth even as Naruto spouted that he was being stupid and that he should just do what he felt like.

She lifted her hand, slapping his away with the back of it, and silently proceeded to finish tying the bandages around her head.

She ignored Zetsu, getting to her feet and walking away, limping slightly but refusing to rest even so. Her shakujou made sad jingles as it clicked away with her every step. 

-:- 

Obito roused as Sakura approached, looking at her with a frown. She looked banged up, and he was sure those bandages around her head hadn't been there before...

"What happened?" he asked, gesturing vaguely at her disheveled appearance.

"A difference in opinions," she answered succinctly.

He longed to ask more, but decided he wouldn't pry at that moment. He'd try asking Naruto later. For now, he respected her clear wish for privacy, no matter how much it cost him, and simply enjoyed her hand on his forehead as she checked his temperature.

"How does your body feel?" she asked him. He had the feeling he should be the one asking that but refrained from doing so.

"I'm fine. Tired all the time, though. Can you do anything about that? I'd like to be back on my feet as soon as possible."

She hid a small, secretive smile behind her hand.

_Boys will be boys, I guess.  
_  
"Your body is healing properly, Obito-kun. It's still too early for you to be up and about, but I think it should be fine in a few weeks."

"Weeks? But it's been _days_ already!" he exclaimed loudly, upset.

"Obito-kun...By all means, you should be dead. Half of your body was crushed beneath a boulder. You were in surgery for hours, and it took both Madara and I to bring you to a stable state that first day. You were this close to dying. Your body needs time to heal." So did she, especially given Madara was trying to kill her and it kept reopening her wounds…

"But can't you speed things up? You're really skilled, right?" he said, desperate.

"I could, but trust me, it wouldn't be a good thing," she said, thinking back to the time she had had Tohru and a number of medics at her village heal her body in preparation for her fight with the war-obsessed Obito. It had done a number on her. She could still feel muscle pains, though they were phantom pains now, and it certainly wasn't a good feeling. "It would be very painful. So much that you would pass out and your body would cramp up. You would feel like your skin had been peeled off and a hot iron had been applied integrally to your body. I will not torture you so."

He huffed in displeasure, grumbling under his breath. She ignored him and peeled the sheets off despite his spluttering. Naruto settled on his other side, laughing at his bashfulness.

"I can't see anything at the moment, if that makes you feel any better about it," said Sakura, taking his foot and gingerly starting to apply pressure to it.

"That's not the problem! I'm practically naked and you're a girl! It doesn't matter whether or not you can see me!" exclaimed Obito with crimson cheeks. In fact, he was flustered just as much by the tantalizing hint of cleavage he could see through her hastily-closed top.

"I have seen many naked bodies in my time, young man. No need to be timid. I can distance myself quite easily from my personal feelings when I'm healing someone," replied Sakura, doing small rotations with his foot. "Does this hurt?"

"Slightly. It's really sensitive."

Nodding, she massaged the arch of his foot with both hands, going up to his toes and then to the sides, below and around his malleolus.

"Is it less tense now?"

"Yeah, much better...You're really good at this..."

Her head dipped in thanks. "People once lined up for my chakra massages," she murmured, remembering a peaceful afternoon in Konoha where she had given a massage to first Gai and Genma, then to possibly half the ninja population present in the village at that time. "I don't have much chakra to spare at present, but once I recover some, I'll use it in conjunction with the massage to amplify its beneficial effects. For now, I simply want to avoid you losing some muscle tone and ease your recovery. Regular exercise will help you keep in shape, but it's a given you'll lose some cardio regardless."

"Nothing I can do about that, is there?" he sighed, looking straight at the ceiling. "Thanks for your hard work, and for putting up with me. I really do appreciate you helping me."

"You're a good kid, Obito-kun. I'm glad I was able to save you," she replied, surprising herself by really meaning it. Throughout the days, she had begun to see this Obito as a different person altogether from the one who had tormented her. He had the potential yet to become that man, but also to turn out like Naruto. Maybe if she gave him just a small push in the right direction?

"Yeah, just you wait, with nee-chan's help, you'll soon be up and about!" said Naruto positively, sounding absolutely certain. His faith in her was heartwarming, but she knew it would not be as simple. Obito was still in pretty bad shape. Still, she didn't want to sadden him and nodded.

"If you promise me to stay put, I could put you in a sitting position, maybe even get you out of this bed in a few days. I guess you must be getting tired of it, ne?"

The smile of relief that bloomed on his face was blinding. "Oh, _please_!"

Chuckling, she continued his massage.

Naruto imitated her carefully, pressing his hands against Obito's thigh despite the patient's blank stare.

"You don't know _how_ disturbing that is," muttered the Uchiha, receiving a clueless gaze in return before realization dawned on the blond and he sputtered, cheeks crimson. "Teme! Get your head out of the gutter!"

Sakura collapsed into fits of laughter. 

-:-

Stirring her wooden spoon into the hot cauldron, Sakura assessed her work pensively. She would need to get it out of the fire soon, before it thickened too much. In a moment.

She rolled on the ball of her feet, humming to herself.

Next to her, Naruto's stomach rumbled loudly.

"It smells sooo good!" he exclaimed, salivating.

"It's just some simple rice porridge. Obito-kun should be able to stomach it and he's getting tired of his liquid diet. I added a few mushrooms and ground nuts to give him more nutrients, and it should taste better that way."

"Well, it sure seems good. Not as good as ramen, of course, but nothing can beat ramen!"

She smiled, reaching up to ruffle his hair—she poked him in the ear in so doing, but neither mentioned her lack of accuracy. She would soon use her sensory jutsu again, this she swore to herself.

"Nee-chan, I want you to teach me," said Naruto after a few minutes of staring at the pot.

Her spine stiffened. If he was asking what she thought he was...

"Teach you what?" she replied lightly. "How to make this food?"

He shook his head, sounding and probably looking very annoyed at her deliberate obtuseness.

"Iie! Teach me how to defend myself! I want to be strong! Strong enough to defend myself, to defend you, too, to defend everyone who matters to me!"

Oh, Naruto...

She stayed silent for a moment. Madara had spared Naruto, probably because he was a child and inconsequential for now. Would he do the same if Naruto learned how to be a shinobi? She shook her head. Probably not. Such a bastard...

"That wouldn't be wise," she began slowly, not wanting to attract the attention of one of Madara's spies, aka White Zetsu.

"But nee-chan!" whined the blond boy, brows furrowing. "What if the old bastard tries to hurt you again? Or me? You know I know the basics, but I need more than that!"

Of course Naruto hadn't listened to his teachers at the Academy. Now, however, she didn't know whether to be relieved or not. He was safer this way, sure, but on the other hand...If Madara ended up killing her...

She sighed, hung her head. Recognizing her defeat, Naruto launched himself at her with a cry of joy, squeezing her in a tight embrace.

"Thanks, nee-chan! I'll do you proud!" he promised, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"I know you will. But first, promise me that if you ever are threatened by Madara or those White Zetsu, or...if I die, you'll use your seal. Okay? No heroics or anything."

He opened his mouth, ready to argue, but her hands gripped his shoulders harder, knuckles whitening.

"Promise me, Naruto," she said with the utmost seriousness.

He bit the inside of his cheek so hard he tasted blood. 

-:- 

Obito decided that there were parts about being injured that he quite liked. One of them being having a pretty nurse on hand who was solely dedicated to his well-being.

"We lift on three. One, two, three."

The white guy and Sakura transferred him to a makeshift cot while another white guy stripped the bed of its linens and replaced them. He was awarded with a nice close-up of Sakura's breasts, cheeks reddening.

"You alright? We didn't jostle you too much?" she asked him as a white guy left with the blankets, presumably to wash them, and they prepared to transfer her back to the bed.

"It's fine," he assured her. It wasn't totally the truth, as he did ache somewhat, but it was always the case nowadays and he didn't want to worry her. Plus, he wanted to appear strong to a pretty woman. She wasn't his beloved Rin-chan, but he really liked her all the same.

He ground his teeth as they put him back in bed, this time sitting up, much to his surprise. Had his whining about always being on his back gotten to her? Maybe he should whine more often if he got such prompt results.

Sakura put a bowl of steaming hot rice gruel in his hands.

"Try to eat on your own," she suggested.

He was disappointed she would not feed him herself, but on the other hand, he would not dribble his food all over his chin. He _hoped_ he wouldn't, at least.

He was terribly disappointed when his hand trembled with the simple weight of a spoonful of rice gruel. By the time it was to his lips, fat beads of sweat rolled down his face, brows crunched in concentration.

He endured, however. Oh yes, he endured for four more spoonfuls before he gave up, scornfully looking at the innocuous bowl largely filled still sitting in his lap. He sounded dejected and felt even more so when he asked for help from the medic-nin.

Sakura covered his hand in sympathy. "Don't worry. It's normal that you're having trouble, and it's already quite good that you're alright with coordination. I admit I was half expecting you to stick that spoon in your nose and lose its contents down your chest," she teased with an impish smile.

Her tease worked quite well as he pouted at her, muttering that at least he was not that bad.

"You're going to be just fine," Sakura reassured him, dipping the spoon into the bowl. She gently blew on it and put it at his mouth, murmuring, "I'll prepare a set of weights for you. You can begin repetitions as physiotherapy. It can be a start and we'll adjust from there."

Anything to stop being so immobile and get out of bed faster. He nodded enthusiastically.

"Good. I'll see what I can do. You'll be up and about in no time."

Obito's eyes left her, gazing at a moving form heading in their direction at a run along the walls of the cave.

"What is he doing?" he asked with a raised brow and a small jerk of his head in direction of Naruto.

_Trying to get himself killed.  
_  
"Training."

_And trying to check for weaknesses in the walls of the cave.  
_  
Maybe Madara had White Zetsu spy on her for suspicious actions in regards to Obito, but after three laps around the cave, he had given up following Naruto and now the blond could examine the walls as he ran at his leisure.

Of course, it was also part of his training (which had nipped his arguing in the bud, stopped before it began and leaving him closing his mouth with an audible click), but it was so, so much more than that.

8888888888

Things are moving along...


End file.
